Hmmmm Etcetera dey vex oo.... He finished Burna Boy for dis one.... I no dey ooo.


Ladies and gentlemen, you are welcome to
the new game in town. For better or for
worse, our music “industry” is embracing a
new form of art. The focus has shifted
almost entirely from making music to
something else. Now the transition is finally
complete and the sync word here is LIE. In
Nigeria today, every artist needs a “lying”
platform – or three, to reach their target
audience. Years back, radio used to be the
dominant “platform” for breaking new artists,
you may say it is still important, but the
radio is certainly no longer the only game in
town. It is becoming simply too limited, too
expensive and too difficult to control to be
the sole platform. A better and surer way to
expose the artist to the public has been
discovered. Now the artist with the biggest
LIE has the bigger and better head start.
The Nigerian music “industry” has now
brought a vast array of gifted liars. We have
seen managers lying blatantly about the
activities of their artistes just to be noticed.
So far, it is working for them here in Nigeria.
Our gullibility has made it too easy to
become an artist here in Nigeria. What was
your reactions when Burna Boy tweeted
about his new songwriting deal with
Universal Music Group? Did you notice how
the blogs went gaga congratulating him? If
truly Burna Boy got a deal, why didn’t
Universal Music Group issue a statement to
that effect? Well, stranger stuff has
happened.

Isn’t the Nigerian music “industry” at risk
with this lying game taken to this new level?
Is it no longer worth noting that the actual
quality of the artist’s songs should be a
predominating factor in a decision to recruit
him as a songwriter? Why are we acting as
if we don’t know that Burna’s songs won’t
find many readily available patronisers
outside the shores of Nigeria? If they do,
they can only be appreciated by only a few
Nigerians. Even in cases where there is a
proven audience for a particular artiste’s
work, it is not enough to make it a big deal
to corner a deal. As a musician reading this
article, would you approach Burna Boy to
write you a song? Judging by what you’ve
heard from him so far! If you can’t, why
would a foreign company with a long list of
songwriters employ him as a songwriter?
ADVERTISEMENT

One reason why there are no record labels in
Nigeria is that a lot of our music
stakeholders are sentimental in their
approach to the business. The guys at
Universal are not jokers. They are strictly in
it for the money. They don’t attach
sentiments to their dealings. They know that
songwriting is not actually a business.
There’s no financial element attached to
songwriting in itself. It is the job of the
music publisher to turn the song into
something that can generate income. Can
Burna’s song guarantee the kind of financial
returns we are talking about here? How
many CDs has he sold in Nigeria as an
artist? I am not talking of the free
downloads of singles on blogs, but the
copies of actual albums he has sold. How
many people have his album in their homes?
The pink and brown contract sneaked up on
us on instagram could have been printed at
Oluwole. Until Universal Music Group
authenticates these claims, everything Burna
has said could not be true. It is a shame
that Nigerian journalists will never see it
necessary to investigate any issue before
plastering it all over their platforms. I was
on set on Nigezie, shooting the Etcetera Live
TV show when the producer asked if I heard
about Burna Boy’s new deal with Universal
Records. Right there and then, I went online
and checked the authenticity of the story.
The first thing I checked was if Universal
Music Group issued any statement to that
effect. I wasn’t surprised that the story
could only be found on Nigerian websites.
The websites of Universal in America, South
Africa and other countries had nothing
suggesting they have anything with Burna
Boy. Their facebook pages said nothing too.
There is an official statement on every deal
they have made. It is the norm with every
recording company in the world. You employ
a songwriter who is like a talent magnet; a
record maker. Someone who brings forth the
talent in the singer. Someone whose role is
to write songs that define the artistes and
give them a reason for existence and you
keep that under the carpet? It doesn’t make
any sense. The truth is, there’s no song of
Burna that suggests he is anywhere close to
being the kind of songwriter we are talking
about here. This guy sounds like he doesn’t
want anyone to pick out his lines.

Finally, it is very important for all those with
music interest to note that in this new LIE
eco-system of ours, there are three things a
musician needs, and his success or failure
can be predicted almost entirely on the basis
of how many of these three things are in
place. If you can provide a clean sweep of
three out of three, like Burna Boy, you’ll
likely be signing a record deal with Universal
Music Group even without being able to hold
your notes vocally. If you’ve got two out of
three, you will probably get an offer, like
some other artistes have claimed at different
times. Though it might not be exactly the
deal you were hoping for. Bring only one out
of three and the best you can hope for is a
polite invitation to come back sometime in
the distant future. So here are the three
things every Nigerian will pay for – the
essential components to a successful “Music
Career” – 1.LIE, 2.LIE and 3.LIE!







http://www.etceteralive.com/our-artistes-now-invent-lies/

#babawhenugetthereinMay29# pls make Etcetera Permanent Secretary to Attention Seekers, he needs to get busy than this.

Etcetera calling out those in the entertainment industry since the 1800's

this person no get sense..as him no survive for music industry, him wan dey draw people to His badluck

2 long... no time

traceable signs of frustration can be seen through his lines....#oshu!